Before I knew my horse had Cushing's I was confounded by a strange gait. He was loading his forehand before his legs were underneath him causing an awkward gait that looked almost neurological. I even took video and showed it to my farrier for his opinion to see if it was something he'd seen before. He had not. Once the horse was stabilized on the pergolide, his gait went back to normal. But he really seemed to struggle with his balance, not severely, but just enough that I didn't want to ride him. Since my nephew also had Cushing's and knows the experience of having a tumor on the pituitary gland and some of the problems it causes in intercranial pressure (extreme nearsightedness, headache, orthostatic hypotension and dysautonomia) he was able to verbalize some things I thought sounded similar to what was observable behavior in my horse. Unsoundness isn't just a problem of the extremities being dysfunctional. Unsoundness can also be a system dysfunction that alters normal gait or behavior. I think every case needs to be evaluated individually, and I really wish more research could be done on certain conditions associated with PPID.

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